Influence of Wind-Tunnel Walls in Helicopter Aerodynamics Predictions

Time-accurate numerical computations on a generic rotor-fuselage configuration are carried out by the ROSITA Euler code with the Chimera approach. The several body grids are embedded into a set of Cartesian background grids, automatically generated, which may account for the presence of wind tunnel walls. Preliminary computations have been successfully carried out, thus demonstrating the feasibility of the ROSITA solver in simulating rotor-fuselage interactions. Both free-flight and wind tunnel configurations are analyzed. However, the lack of trim data on the chosen hypothetical helicopter configuration prevented to select blade dynamics and fuselage pitch attitude such as to maximize the wall interference effects, that are demonstrated quite weak in the present case.